Put it together on the bench, hold it together as you put it in. A wrap of duct tape around the ends will help. Take off the brush shield (clamp looking sheet metal band) to hook the brushes to pull them back. You can use loops of string around the brush springs, out thru the holes, to pull the brushes back as you put it together, then pull the string out.

 

The Shell Rotella used to be the way to go. Sadly a little over a year ago they dropped the level of zinc in their oil.

 

I will give it a try. Thank you Ross.

 

I don't change the viscosity of the oil I use for the season. My engines all run at about 190* because that's the temp the thermostat keeps them at. In the summer when it's 108* driving down the highway, my engines don't know. They are running at 190*. In the winter when it's 40* going down the highway, they are still running at 190*. So, I use normal 10w-30 year round. So, when I start the engine the oil has the viscosity of a 10 weight oil. But, as it warms up to the normal operating temperature, the viscosity changes to 30 weight.
(They add some type of rubber polymers to multi-viscosity oil that swell as they warm, thus increasing the viscosity.)

If your engine is not burning oil when using 10w-30, why switch to 10w-40? The 40 viscosity will only give the illusion of better lubrication because your oil pressure will rise 10-15 psi. That's not better lubrication! That just means the oil is having more resistance flowing throught the journals and bearings and the oil pump is working harder to move the oil. This will also negativiely effect you gas mileage as the engine will not turn as freely on the heavier oil.

Think about this extreme: If high oil pressure was a good thing, we would all run 80 weight and have oil pressure maxed out. I think that everybody will agree, running 80 weight is not a good idea.

Just my humble opinions, Jag

 

I'd listen to HT32 and Jag, they know of what they speak and speak the truth! Being involved with racing engines most of my adult life I try to keep myself up to date on all the technologies.
Flatheads use a very low valve spring strength and typically do not rev very high, so lifter/camlobe wear is not as serious an issue as in a late model high lift flat tappet motor. My brother wiped the lobes on a brand new cam in about 1K miles in his BB 396 before we found out about the zinc/wear issue.
Indeed the oil manufacturers have been forced by the gov to reduce their levels of zinc additive to nearly zero because of damage it was doing to catalytic converters. The diesel engine manufacturers have been using more wear resistant parts as of late so the diesel oils have also been reduced in zinc content. If you do not have a catalytic converter and run an engine with flat tappet cam, I would suggest running a zinc enrichening additive. AFAIK STP is NOT such an additive, read the container carefully before buying any additive. STP and a few others that have been around for a long time are nothing more than extra thick oil that raise the engine's oil viscosity giving the appearance of helping the engine as Jag has said. There are a few oils on the market that still contain adequate amounts of zinc, but they must be labled "not for street use", "off road use only", or "racing use only". and should NOT be used with a catalytic converter. One that I am familiar with is Roush Racing oil.
All oils will turn dark very quickly, assuming they contain detergent. This is because they are keeping the carbon in suspension rather than clumping up and depositing itself as sludge. This is beneficial to the engine and is why the engine should be warmed up before changing the oil. Don't use non detergent oil (if you can even find it) in a multicylinder engine with a pressurized oil system. Never partially clean sludge out of an engine. loosening the edges of the remaining sludge is a invite for disaster. If you have that much sludge, pull the engine and have it boiled out, it's time for a rebuild anyway.
Early engines were indeed built with "loose" oil control clearances, to aid in lubricating the cylinder walls/rings and upper wrist pins. They do use oil because of this. If your flathead is not using a quart of oil between oil changes it may be too tight. Today the connecting rods have oil passages to lube the wrist pins and spray oil on the cylinder walls below the pistons.
The belief that synthetic oil will cause oil leakage is an old wives tale.
This is my belief and opinions, YMMV

 

Worked fine. Actually I used lengths of very light gauge bailing wire, so I could pull the four brushes into position and then twist the wire tight around 4 nails set into a piece of plywood, with the starter housing standing up on its end in the center. When all was set, the assembly dropped right into place. Then just pulled the wire free.

Thanks.

 

My '55 F350 dually dump was a PA farm truck. Maintenance was limited to adding fluids when needed. When I got the truck home and attempted to drain the oil I had to poke a hole into the sludge in the oil pan.

Upon removal the pan had ~ 2 inches of sludge buildup.

I cleaned the pan and then spent a couple of hours with engine cleaner, paint brush and scraper on the worst of the engine sludge that I could reach. After a final kerosene rinse I let the engine drip dry for a day and reinstalled the oil pan and upgraded to a spin on filter and Fram PH8A filter.

Three oil changes later at ~500 miles/change and the oil stays clear between 1000 mile oil changes.

I researched the EPA mandated antifriction additive removal from most all commercially available oils. The GM EOS and ZDDP options are pretty expensive. The Brad Penn racing oils have the pre-EPA levels of zinc and phosphorous and are less costly than adding the anti-friction additives. I now use the Brad Penn oils in all of my vehicles.

HTH, Tony

1948 Ferguson TE20
1950 Buick Super
1950 Buick Flxible Ambulance
1955 F350 dually dump
1986 BMW 635CSIA
1989 BMW 635CSi 5-speed
1994 F150 5.8L 4X4
2000 SeaRay 185 B/R
2006 Tacoma 4.0L 4X4

 

Yeah I tend to agree.

If you have a leak when the oil is hot (and thin) then it will probably leak with synthetic.

If it doesn't leak at all, then it probably won't leak with syn.
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